


graveyard

by redsh



Category: K-pop, VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dreams vs. Reality, M/M, Magical Realism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:00:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25124299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redsh/pseuds/redsh
Summary: "it's funny how the warning signs can feel like they're butterflies."
Relationships: Han Sanghyuk | Hyuk/Lee Jaehwan | Ken
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	graveyard

they called it a gift.

jaehwan had always been good with a pencil, preferred paint and putty to plastic fire trucks or dinosaurs. when most kids went to the store with their guardians they ran for the toy aisle. when jaehwan went to the store with his mother he ran for home improvement, snatched far too many of the little color slips they had for different shades of paint, and spent hours memorizing them when he got home.

he was a fast learner, sat in art sessions multiple grade levels above his own, and produced work that was more often than not far superior compared to whoever was top of the class.

_‘you have something special that is yours and yours alone. don’t waste it.’_ his mother reminded him almost daily. she did everything in her power to ensure jaehwan had what he needed to grow as an artist. his father? he bought jaehwan one sketchbook when he was thirteen. he didn’t come to his competitions, was never there for the photos, made excuses for missing celebrations at home. jaehwan’s father didn’t care for his art but his mother adored it and that was usually enough for him.

jaehwan was healthy. he had a few good friends, decent home life, a full ride to the prep school of his dreams, and new requests for commissions coming in almost daily. he had so much to be happy about but his lack of a companion was the one thing that made him sad. he liked boys and girls, he had dated boys and girls, but any flames that burned were always blown out far too easily. nothing ever lasted.

it eventually manifested in his art, the feeling of missing his other half. jaehwan’s style changed constantly through high school and college, yet the pieces he created just for himself were always drawn the same way. he had sketchbooks full of the same face, the same hands and eyes, and shoulders, the same form. the person he drew only came to him in his dreams. he knew they weren’t real but he felt connected to them.

last night jaehwan fell asleep drawing that person in the sketchbook his father gave him, and this morning he woke up late for his lecture so he left it open on his desk.

“so did you ask him?” hongbin questioned, following jaehwan up the steps to his apartment. “i mean you said he was cute, that’s why i left you alone together.”

“i knew you had something to do with it!” jaehwan half-shouted, freeing his keys from the pocket of his sweatpants and unlocking the first door. hongbin followed him inside, and then through the second as they made their way to the elevator. “why can’t you just let me, i don’t know, fall in love on my own? coming to our study dates with half-decent looking boys, making random excuses for why you have to leave and forcing us to spend time together while reading about art history is so lame of you.”

“i can’t let you fall in love on your own because your idea of love is the equivalent of every teen angst novel written by a cis white woman ever.” hongbin deadpanned. “that’s such a boring way to live, you need someone exciting in your life.”

“stop shitting on my taste in books! plus you’re all the excitement i need.” jaehwan pressed the up arrow on the little panel next to the elevator, gave hongbin a playful smile. “i think that’s why i kiss you sometimes i mean...if you were boring i certainly don’t think i’d waste my time making face with you.”

“obviously, who else are you gonna make face with?” hongbin turned his nose up, scrolling through his instagram feed.

“i don’t know the answer to that question yet but when i find it i’m gonna rub it in your face.” jaehwan said as they stepped onto the elevator. he traced the number five with his thumb before pressing the little button.

“hongbin-ah, one of these days i’m going to meet a very nice boy and we will fall in love.” jaehwan tossed his gym bag on the floor as they entered his apartment, locked the door behind hongbin after he came in. “until then, please stop setting me up on last-minute blind dates.”

“alright! it’s your loss!” hongbin called, going straight to the kitchen.

jaehwan flipped through his mail as he walked to his bedroom. bills bills bills...since when did living alone become this expensive? jaehwan kicked his door shut and screamed bloody murder when he turned and saw a boy standing in the center of his room.

“who are you?!” jaehwan yelled, grabbing the nearest thing he could get his hands on which was a broom. it wasn’t the best but it was all he had. “you have a very short window of time before i crack you over the head with this thing! answer my question!”

the boy simply stared, seemingly not at all phased by jaehwan’s outburst. he was also butt naked _what kind of dream was this?!_

“do you understand what i’m saying?!”

“yes.” the boy responded.

“great! who are you and why are you in my apartment?!” jaehwan tightened his grip on the broom.

“my name is sanghyuk, you drew me.”

what?

“what?!”

“you drew me, in your book.” the boy, sanghyuk, motioned to jaehwan’s desk. jaehwan kept the broom positioned above his head, ready to swing it at a moment's notice, as he slowly made his way to the opposite corner of the room. he felt around for his sketchbook and grabbed it, glanced between sanghyuk and the empty page.

“why is this page empty? did you throw my drawing out?” jaehwan did his best to keep his voice steady.

“i am your drawing.”

for a short while jaehwan just stood there, trying to remember the sketch he made before he fell asleep at his desk late last night. his features looked the same, hair was a little longer than what he remembered but he was exhausted so it could just be a lapse in his memory. his build was familiar, the broadness of his shoulders, his wide chest and for gods sakes his cock was so pretty since when did jaehwan become skilled at nude sketches?! he distantly wondered if he should add that to his commission's list.

the door to jaehwan’s bedroom opening broke his train of thought.

“hey, taekwoon just called and said his cat got out again-“ hongbin stopped abruptly, stared unabashedly at sanghyuk for far longer than what one would deem socially acceptable before he turned to face jaehwan with a smirk.

“this is not what it looks like.” jaehwan explained.

“it looks like i just interrupted your post-workout workout, so i’m gonna go help taekwoon find his cat and i’ll see you in class tomorrow. have fun!” hongbin smiled. he closed the door as quickly as he had opened it and left jaehwan alone with a stranger.

**********

“i’m going to ask you one more time and i want you to tell the truth. do you understand me?”

sanghyuk nodded, seated across from jaehwan at his dining room table dressed in his favorite hoodie and sweatpants.

“where did you come from and why were you in my bedroom this afternoon?” jaehwan sipped his bubble tea angrily, brows furrowed endearingly. sanghyuk smiled and jaehwan felt his heart do a thing but he promptly ignored it.

“i came from your sketchbook. i manifested because you left the page you drew me on exposed to sunlight. i’m not sure how or why happened, it must be the laws of the book itself, but that is the complete truth.” sanghyuk clarified.

“okay.” jaehwan nodded, stood up from the table, and grabbed his phone. “i’m going to call campus security and they’re going to escort you out of here and i’ll never have to see you again, how does that sound?”

“does that mean i won’t get to stay with you?”

“the only person you’ll be staying with is a cellmate.”

“would that be you?”

“no, it wouldn’t.”

sanghyuk crossed the space between them in seconds, snatched jaehwan’s phone from his hand, and left the younger staring with his mouth wide open.

“give me my phone!”

“if i do you will separate us, that can’t happen.”

jaehwan was starting to get nervous. he could handle the little false story about the book but now it was just getting weird. as pretty as sanghyuk was he didn’t know him. he didn’t feel unsafe or uncomfortable but he certainly didn’t feel safe or comfortable and he was not about to play games.

“what do you want? money? a car? food?” jaehwan asked.

“i don’t understand.”

“you broke into my apartment looking for something. if you tell me what it is i can give it to you and you can get the fuck out before this gets ugly.”

“my purpose is to stay with you, that is all.”

“i don’t know you, sanghyuk, you cannot stay with me. that’s weird. we’re strangers.”

“we’re not strangers, you’ve been drawing me since you were seventeen.”

jaehwan felt his face burn at that, color rushing to his cheeks and the tips of his pointed ears.

“how do you know that?”

sanghyuk looked uncertain for the first time, as if trying to choose his words carefully.

“i went through your art.”

“i’m sorry?”

“i went through your art-“

jaehwan is suddenly very in sanghyuk’s face and _very_ unhappy.

“you went through my work? did you touch my shit? that’s private, you had no right to do that.” jaehwan would be steaming if he was a teapot but since he wasn’t his ears twitched cutely, a telltale sign that he’s pissed off. “give me my phone and get the fuck out of my apartment.”

“you’ve grown a lot as an artist, your work is very good. i think this version of me is your best though.”

“sanghyuk, i want you to leave.” jaehwan admitted, arms folded over his chest.

“i can’t leave, i told you my purpose is to stay with you.”

“you want someplace to crash for the night? is that it? will you leave tomorrow if i let you sleep on my couch?”

“i suppose i will have to-“

“great, stay here and do not touch anything.” jaehwan interrupted, grabbing his phone to text hongbin.

_should i call someone? the fbi? my therapist? like. wtf goes on?_ | 8:45

_he keeps saying he manifested from my damn sketchbook, i am not fucking around._ | 8:47

_you aren’t seriously considering letting this guy sleep at your place, right? please tell me you are not setting up your couch the way you do when i stay over?_ | 8:47

jaehwan took a photo of the couch and sent it to hongbin. he ignored sanghyuk when he asked what he was doing.

_he doesn’t deserve a fucking pillow fort! one blanket and a throw pillow are more than enough!_ | 9:00

_thank god you haven’t lost your entire mind_ | 9:01

_if he tries anything i will skin him alive, don’t worry._ | 9:02

_you know i’ll worry anyway idk why you waste your time telling me not to. be proactive, not reactive._ | 9:03

_always_ | 9:03

“are you going to sleep soon?” sanghyuk asked two hours later. jaehwan sighed and rubbed his temples, glasses sliding down his nose. he just wanted to finish his damn biochemistry homework, that’s literally all he wanted.

“will you please shut up?”

“you have very poor mannerisms.” sanghyuk scoffed.

“what did we agree on?”

“no talking while you’re working.”

“so why the fuck are you talking?”

“i cannot sleep...why do you have such poor language use? you curse often.”

“why do you care?”

“i want to learn more about you.”

“how unfortunate.” jaehwan said, ending the conversation. sanghyuk was silent for twenty minutes before he interrupted him again but thankfully his work was done.

“it’s late, don’t you have class tomorrow with that boy?” sanghyuk followed jaehwan around his kitchen like a lost puppy. “what is his name?”

“do you drink tea?”

“...i’ve never had tea...”

“right because you’re a drawing that only existed as of less than twenty-four hours ago, my bad.” jaehwan grumbled sarcastically, grabbing two mugs. “yes i have a lecture tomorrow and that boy’s name is hongbin. none of this matters because tomorrow will be the end of whatever this is.”

sanghyuk did drink the tea jaehwan made. he almost burned himself more than once but he finished it, then had two more cups and jaehwan felt a pang of guilt because he hadn’t asked if he was hungry at all.

“do you want food?” jaehwan asked, pretending to read something on his phone.

“is it not late? is midnight early to you?”

“i don’t give a damn what time it is, sanghyuk, are you hungry or not?”

“yes.”

“get over here.”

jaehwan showed sanghyuk how to make ramen. after they ate he also showed him how to start the dishwasher and then how to use the shower. his bills would likely be twice as expensive at the end of the month considering how much sanghyuk ate and how much hot water he used. jaehwan sighed as he set his alarm and plugged his phone up, getting comfortable on his loveseat.

“will-“

“close your eyes and go to sleep sanghyuk.” jaehwan spoke softly for the first time, staring at the younger until he closed his eyes.

jaehwan dreamt of an amusement park that night, colors and sounds overwhelming his senses. he caught a glimpse of sanghyuk and froze, stared at him with a confused expression. he’d seen him in his dreams before but the fact that he also existed in the real world was a little too surreal. he was a person and not just a face. he had a name and asked too many questions and would probably look really nice in yellow. sanghyuk smiled at jaehwan in his dream and he jerked awake, gasping loudly.

“fucking _christ_ ,” jaehwan breathed. he turned off his phone alarm and dragged himself out of his pile of blankets.

“are you okay?” sanghyuk asked, watching jaehwan run shaky fingers through his hair as he retreated to the bathroom and locked the door.

he enjoyed the silence for all but 5 minutes before sanghyuk knocked on the door.

“what?” jaehwan croaked. he moved around the bathroom so he could start getting ready for class.

“you looked upset.”

“i am upset.”

“is everything okay?”

“no.”

silence. the only sound was the water running in the sink.

“are you real?” jaehwan quietly asked through the door, let his forehead fall against the wood.

“yes, i’m a concept you created and brought to life. i am very much real.” sanghyuk responded, letting his forehead touch the wood as well.

“what will happen if i leave you? or if we’re separated?”

“i’ll cease to exist.”

jaehwan didn’t like that. he wasn’t certain why but he didn’t fancy that at all.

“can i draw you again? leave my book open the way i did the other day and make you manifest that way?”

“if the sun comes out, i suppose so.”

“will you be the same? have your memories and all that?”

“i don’t know.”

“can i trust you?”

jaehwan cracked the door open, staring at sanghyuk between the frame. his eyes were red from crying, hand shaking as he gripped the knob.

“you can trust me.”

sanghyuk reached out and wiped a tear rolling down the curve of jaehwan’s cheek. he kept his hand in place for longer than he needed to but jaehwan didn’t tell him to move.

hongbin was more than a little surprised when jaehwan showed up with sanghyuk at their favorite cafe an hour later. “good morning! i have a large number of questions for you,” he said amusedly.

“can they wait until i get my coffee? i already have a migraine from trying to find clothes that fit him.” jaehwan whined, pouting as hongbin cupped his cheeks.

“fine, make sure you get him something too.”

“what for?!”

“because he’s your guest, if you’re going to keep him you should be a generous host.” hongbin explained, pressing a soft kiss to jaehwan’s lips before sending him to get in line.

sanghyuk pursed his lips as he waited with hongbin, foot tapping the floor. he felt something towards hongbin that he didn’t feel towards jaehwan. _envy._


End file.
